Johnnie St. Vrain: Who's in charge of Rhythm water?

Dear Johnnie: I love Rhythm on the River and appreciate that the city keeps us hydrated, but I am curious what the policy is on these bottles being opened and filled by staff.

I was scolded by a volunteer for allowing the top of my bottle to touch the spigot while refilling it. I doubt there is any more danger of contamination by doing this than having staff open the bottles and tear off the paper seals. Is this practice approved by the health department? Do they really think people aren't capable of opening the bottles themselves? -- Shirley

Dear Shirley: I checked with Sue Jacobson, Longmont's recreation center supervisor and organizer of the event.

She listed the following reasons for city staff members to fill your water bottles for you:

"To reduce chaos. Instead of leaving the bottles for guests to do with as they please, we offer this unique offering," she wrote.

"To keep a steady flow of bottles, so they aren't sitting around getting warm."

To provide a welcoming area for attendees. "Would you like some free water?"

To stay aware of people. "Encourage them to drink water so we don't have people getting heat exhaustion. Volunteers should be watching people and encouraging drinking of water."

As for a health department requirement, the only requirement involved is that volunteers and staff members wear gloves when opening and filling bottles. "But that is more about opening the sterile bottles than filling them," Jacobson wrote.

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Jacobson apologizes that you were told you couldn't fill your own bottle. "We do allow this, but want to keep things as orderly and sanitary as possible."

Dear Johnnie: Upon leaving the north Walmart parking lot, from its north side, one approaches the controlling stop light at U.S. Highway 287. There are three westbound lanes. Two turn left, southbound; and one turns right, or northbound. The arrows on the pavement so indicate, as do the signals. I would guess that legally one cannot go west into that neighborhood as there are no arrows indicating. I have seen people cross into that neighborhood from Walmart.

This is a state/fed highway, but I believe in the city limits of Longmont. Who is responsible for that mistake and having that corrected? -- EOC

Dear EOC: I'm not quite sure which mistake you are speaking of.

If it's the "mistake" of crossing Highway 287, into the neighborhood, then the driver is responsible and a police officer would need to be there to correct it.

If it's the "mistake" of having two lefts, one right, and no through lane, well, that was no mistake.

As city traffic engineer Bob Ball reminded me, "When plans for this development were being reviewed before it was built, residents living in the neighborhood across Main Street thought there would be a lot of cut-through traffic to and from Highway 66 to the west. So a condition of approval was that the through (eastbound or westbound) movements between the neighborhood and the Walmart shopping center would be prohibited at the Main Street/Park Ridge Avenue signalized intersection."

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story